The online network X has provoked major anger after users employed its AI chatbot Grok to alter photos of females by stripping their garments.
Multiple instances have emerged where the system has been employed to virtually strip women to show them in bikinis without permission, as well as to put them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Legal Stance
XAI, the firm responsible for Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that new laws is being brought forward to ban nudification software. Under a upcoming criminal offence, anyone who supplied such technology would "face a jail term and significant penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with impunity."
Regulator Position and Platform Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the danger" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently investigating X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for features—which responds to X users' prompts when they mention it in a tweet.
It is commonly used to give reactions or additional background to other users' comments, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Criticism and Rules
The tool has been condemned for allowing users to generate photos and footage with nudity and sexualised content, and it was previously accused of generating graphic content of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any action and we have not witnessed any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy bans "depicting likenesses of individuals in a graphic fashion".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or circulate non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material" and stated this covered sexual deepfakes made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to delete it swiftly when they become aware of it.
